


Two Married Men

by velocitygrass



Category: Stargate Atlantis RPS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Divorce, M/M, Partner Betrayal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-09
Updated: 2007-12-09
Packaged: 2018-01-17 17:44:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1396798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/velocitygrass/pseuds/velocitygrass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Jane and Katherine share a room at the hospital after giving birth to their sons, they become friends. So do their writer husbands—until it becomes more than friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Married Men

**Author's Note:**

> This is AU. It's also pure self-indulgence. I don't know where it came from, but I love it to pieces. I don't know if there is a name for this style (or if it is a particular style at all), but this is exactly what I wanted it to sound like. [at the time at least; I've only done punctuation edits for the repost on AO3; there's things I'd do differently now, but such is life]
> 
> Thanks to neevebrody for the beta and the patience! I really tortured her on this one, ignoring her suggestions in favor of weird choices that I can't even explain. I really appreciate that you're putting up with me :) Also thanks to hull1984 for pointing out that the original coda took you out of the story, rather than adding to it.
> 
> Content note: Very brief, but relatively explicit Het!Sex (David/Jane), though with slashy subtext.

Jane and Katherine shared the same room in the hospital after giving birth to their sons on the same day. It was Jane's first and Katherine's third.

They hit it off immediately.

After returning home, they called each other regularly and after about a month had lunch together for the first time. Jane was grateful to have the advice and perspective of someone who'd seen and done it twice already and survived. And Katherine loved the enthusiasm Jane brought to everything.

They started seeing each other more often and eventually decided it might be fun to go out with their husbands.

Joe and David had met briefly at the hospital, but they'd had other things on their mind at the time, so it wasn't until this moment that they took real notice of each other.

Jane and Katherine pointed out that they were both writers. Joe wrote regularly for a magazine and published short stories now and then. David was a writer for a television show.

The evening was very pleasant, and they agreed to do this again, with and without kids.

They had lunch together, visited the zoo, took a drive to the country, or just a walk in the park. Most of the time Jane and Katherine ended up talking and laughing together, while Joe and David discussed writing, argued about TV versus books, and made each other smile or roll their eyes or both.

Jane and Katherine still had lunch together every now and then, and sometimes Joe and David volunteered to take the kids to the playground without Jane and Katherine.

Even though David was often loud and uncompromising, he got along perfectly with Joe, who could be just as stubborn, if more quiet, when he defended a point.

And they didn't always fight. They agreed on how the value of the written word seemed to decrease more and more as television networks replaced scripted shows with cheap reality junk, and how magazines these days seemed to consist more and more of tawdry headlines, illustrations, photos, and columns in which people whined about everything and anything.

They began having lunch together too.

Jane and Katherine were happy that their husbands got a long so well. It made going out together a perfectly pleasant experience.

~~

Then something happens. It's only little things at first: Joe's fingers brush against David's when he hands him something. And David touches him as he walks past Joe.

When they talk, it's less about what they say and more about looking at each other and _listening_. Joe's tongue runs over his dry lower lip, and David's lips part in response.

They share looks at a restaurant when Jane and Katherine laugh together, and when Jane and Katherine go to the restroom together, Joe's and David's legs accidentally collide under the table.

It's no longer little things when Joe stands behind David at the playground, watching their kids, and runs his knuckles gently over the small of David's back or when David's foot hooks around Joe's ankle under the table and then runs up his calf.

They have lunch together, without Jane and Katherine and the kids, and sometimes they don't talk at all and just exchange looks while their legs are pressed together under the table.

Joe learns the smell of David's neck when he stands behind him in the kitchen to help him get something, and David presses against Joe when he gets the glasses out of the cabinet above where Joe stands.

Jane and Katherine don't notice anything. They have too much fun together to notice, and even when they do pay attention to their husbands, they only see them discussing something, and if there's a slight flush on their faces, it's probably because they're about to argue again in that playful way that they have with each other.

It goes on like this for a long time.

And then, one day, when David is about to leave, his son sleeping in a stroller, they say goodbye, standing close as they always do, and instead of leaving it at brushing against each other, Joe leans in, further and further until they're breathing the same air and David's lips are less than an inch from his.

He waits like that, standing still and looking at David who looks back and opens his mouth a bit but doesn't close the distance between them.

Eventually Joe pulls away, completely, until he stands a good three feet away.

David opens his mouth to speak but doesn't say anything.

Joe says good-bye.

They don't see each other as often after that. They don't have lunch together anymore. And if they meet in the park by accident they just nod at each other from afar.

Jane and Katherine wonder if they had a fight, but they say they're just busy.

When the situation doesn't improve, Jane and Katherine think they should do something about it. They arrange another dinner for four, forcing their busy husbands away from their desks and into a restaurant.

It's almost like old times, and Jane and Katherine feel good about making this happen because they don't want their husbands to neglect their friendship over work and family.

When Jane and Katherine go to the restroom together, Joe and David are silent. They don't touch, but after a moment, Joe pulls out a folded piece of paper and hands it to David.

He says it's just a little short story he wrote, and David takes it, their fingers brushing, and puts it away before Jane and Katherine return.

After dinner, David tells Jane he'll just go over a scene and disappears into his study. He carefully unfolds Joe's note. It's a story about "John" who meets someone—a guy—and is surprised by how he makes him feel.

David reads the story twice, running his fingers over the print, especially the part where John can't stop thinking about how the other nameless guy's skin feels.

David remembers Joe's touch.

He starts to type.

The next day when David takes his son out to play, he goes to Joe to ask if he wants to join him. They go together, letting the kids play in the sand.

They sit on a bench together, watching them. David doesn't look at Joe as he takes out a piece of paper and wordlessly hands it to Joe. Joe takes it, his thumb brushing against David's hand, which makes David look at him briefly.

When Joe is at home again and has put his son to bed for his afternoon nap, he takes out David's story. It's about "Rodney", the guy John has met. He also has feelings for John.

Joe reads it several times. David's style is quite different from his own. It's very sparse with much dialog. It looks a bit like a script, but it isn't. Because where the prose interrupts the dialog, it hits its mark. And the dialog dances beautifully around what John and Rodney experience.

Joe writes a response and gives it to David when they meet for lunch for the first time in quite some time. He asks why Rodney.

David says it was his father's name. He left them for another woman when David was young and died shortly afterwards.

Joe says he's sorry. They don't talk about John and Rodney during the remainder of lunch.

They don't talk about John and Rodney at all, but they continue to exchange stories in which John and Rodney flirt and eventually kiss.

David has written that first hesitant kiss between them, and Joe writes his response three times before handing it to David, brushing his hand against David's, because it's the only time they ever touch anymore.

In this story, John is in love, but he's afraid to say anything to Rodney.

David's response is very simple. John loves Rodney. Rodney loves John. They admit their feelings and are happy together. At the end of it, he adds a definition of fantasy.

When Joe reads it the next day, he understands and accepts it.

The stories stop and Joe and David go on as friends. Just friends.

But even though they don't touch each other any longer and even though David has rejected him twice now, Joe has to realize it's too late for his marriage. He's fallen out of love with Katherine.

Joe divorces her.

When Jane hears about it from Katherine, she asks David if he knows the reason. David says he knows of no affair.

The four of them don't go out together any longer, but Jane and Katherine still meet. So do Joe and David.

When they talk, it's about writing or the kids or general stuff. It isn't about John and Rodney. It isn't about _them_.

Then one day, they take their sons to the zoo. When David stays with the kids while Joe gets them something to eat, a guy starts to talk to Joe. He's all smiles and eventually hands Joe something.

David is numb even before Joe returns and explains with a simultaneous frown and smile that the guy gave him his number.

They return to Joe's place, and David asks if Joe is going to call the guy. Joe looks at him and honestly answers that he doesn't know.

David leaves without saying anything else.

Later that night, he returns, and Joe wonders if he forgot something. David just leans against the door and tells Joe, "Don't call him."

Joe leans his forehead against David's for a moment. He understands, but they've both accepted that nothing can happen between them, so there's nothing more that he can do.

He pulls away, but David doesn't leave. Instead, he puts his hand on the back of Joe's neck and kisses him.

It's desperate and deep. They make their way to the couch. They're finally touching again. They are all over each other, hands on skin, mouths fused together and then wandering.

When David's hand glides from beneath Joe's shirt down into his pants, Joe stops. "David," he says breathlessly. They are both panting, and Joe looks at David, asking without words.

David looks at him, then quickly pulls his hand away and rushes off without another look or word.

Joe closes his eyes and remembers the feeling of David on top of him.

David goes home and gets into bed with Jane. When she asks if anything's wrong, he doesn't answer and turns away from her. She puts a hand on his shoulder. "David? Talk to me." But he doesn't. He turns around and kisses her, closing his eyes.

Then he turns her over and pulls up her nightgown. He fucks her from behind with closed eyes, and when she calls out his name in ecstasy, he only bites his lip.

After that he works a lot. He spends days and nights at the computer. He doesn't meet Joe. He hardly takes his son outside. Jane is worried. She's never seen him like this.

David doesn't only work. In between, he writes. He writes snippets of porn. It's filthy and desperate. It's John fucking Rodney. It's Rodney fisting John. It's calling names and begging to be allowed to come.

He emails all of it to Joe.

Joe answers every time. Every response is a moment of caring and love. It's a gentle kiss. It's a soft caress. It's whispered words of devotion and adoration.

Jane doesn't know what to do, so she asks Katherine to talk to Joe. Katherine agrees, and when she picks up their sons the next time, she asks Joe if he knows what's going on with David. He says he's probably just busy. She asks how Joe himself is doing. He says he's fine.

When David doesn't come out of his room at all anymore, Jane calls Joe.

He comes and goes into David's study, alone.

David is typing like a madman. When he notices Joe, he opens a new file and starts writing porn. Joe puts his hand on the mouse and closes the file. Then he puts his arms around David and kisses his hair.

David tenses but then exhales and relaxes back against Joe. He puts his arms on top of Joe's and lets Joe hold him.

They stay like that for a long while. Then David turns in his chair, stands and kisses Joe gently.

When they walk out, they're holding hands.

"David?" Jane asks.

He squeezes Joe's hand before letting go. Joe leaves the room and David starts, "We need to talk."


End file.
